I was a vegetarian for a long, long time which is how I managed to have never eaten a beer brat (or any bratwurst, for that matter) until this summer. This in spite of living in the Midwest for several years, spending a year in Austria, and having—on two separate occasions—roommates from Wisconsin.

This story starts out four or five years ago when I moved into a little duplex in Hickory. It had two bedrooms, a cramped kitchen, an overgrown flowerbed and a tiny back porch. But most importantly, it was the first time I’d ever lived alone.

We had some birthdays around here not too long ago—two in one week, to be exact. (Or three if you count The Snook and six if you count the kittens [which we won’t as they refused to allow themselves to be birthday-hatted]).

Luckily for me, my birthday is four days earlier than My Guy’s which allows [...]